The Influence of Salinity on Growth, Water Relations and Photosynthesis in Diplachne fusca (L.) P. Beauv. Ex Roemer & Schultes

The responses to increasing salintiy (in the range 0-420 mol m-3 NaCl) of an Australian accession of the halophytic grass, Diplachne fusca, have been studied in two experiments; in terms of growth, water relations, ion uptake and leaf photosynthesis. Twenty-one to 41 days after salinisation, plant dry weight, leaf area and relative growth rate were decreased at salinities at and above 300 mol m-3. Although salinity in the range 0-200 mol m-3 did not significantly affect growth rate, the highest value was at 200 mol m-3. Towards the end of the sampling period, a recovery of leaf growth rates was greater in plants at salinity levels of 90-200 mol m-3. The salt tolerance of this accession is similar to that reported for other populations of this species. As salinity in the root environment was increased, the osmotic potential of the leaf sap (Ψs) and the difference between leaf water potential and Ψs increased progressively with each harvest. There was no evidence that a lack of a capacity to adjust osmotically was related to the observed inhibition of growth at high salinity levels. It was confirmed that D. fusca possessed a C4 mode of leaf photosynthesis: the maximum assimilation rate (A) observed was high (>50 μmol m-2 s-1), the operating intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci) was approximately 140 μmol mol-1, the initial slope of the A v. CI curve ('carboxylation efficiency') was steep (1.24 μmol m-2 s-1) and the optimum leaf temperature for photosynthesis was approximately 45°C. At high salinities leaf conductance (g) was reduced by 78%. Using an analysis of A v. I and A v. CI relationships, the components of the 'photosynthetic capacity' of the mesophyll reduced by high salinity were Amax, carboxylation efficiency and photorespiration rate. There was no consistent relationship, at three salinity levels, between growth rates and Amax and carboxylation efficiency. It appears unlikely, therefore, that the primary inhibitory effects of salinity on growth are attributable to effects on leaf photosynthetic processes.